What Biya has not given women in 40 years!.

Then, Biya came with an aura of change, leaving citizens with a feeling that, nothing was going to limit any of the country’s sons and daughters from attaining their dreams.

The concept has, in decades past, found popular space within the national narrative, especially in political gatherings.

At the heart of those who have entrenched the concept, sometimes even without an appropriate understanding of it in the remotest of villages, are supporters of Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, party.

Forty years and still counting as Head of State, the man of November 6, 1982, has scored high on several fronts but remains uninspiring in certain aspects, particularly in bridging the gap between women and men in occupying leadership positions.

Typical of this, critics say, are women who form the majority of citizens that have bolstered the CPDM, voting for Biya as Head of State, at different elections and supporting his policies.

Observers say and rightly so, that, women are yet to get an equal taste of what men have, under Biya’s four decades and still counting leadership.

Women, records show, under President Paul Biya’s leadership, have covered some ground but are yet to shatter the glass ceiling in other key areas.

While supporters of the Head of State, have repeatedly defended this gender gaps in several areas of national life, many are those who argue that, forty years is time enough to assume that, Paul Biya has denied women several important offices of national importance.

With an estimate of over 700 persons having given the chance to serve as members of government since assuming the supreme magistracy of the nation, Paul Biya is yet to entrust certain offices to women. The offices are among the most influential and strategic in the State architecture.

But what has he not really given women?

For women who have, in forty years, set their highs on some of the most powerful offices of the land, they know, like everyone who has kept records of the New Deal regime since 1982, that none of their peers has tasted the power that goes with the first three offices in terms of State protocol in the executive arm of government.

National Assembly, Senate top jobs

Though credited with introducing multiparty democracy in the 90s, the fruits of such, in the most powerful institutions such as the National Assembly and Senate have never catapulted women to the top.

While some say the National Assembly has been transformed into a ‘kingdom’ where just one man, Hon Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, has been calling the shots since 1992, women have just been left playing second fiddle.

The Senate, which saw the light of day in 2013, has also maintained the same ‘disdain’ for female leadership. Political strategists say even within the prism of them being elected offices, Paul Biya in his costume of national Chairman of the CPDM can decide to invest a woman for the post of National Assembly House Speaker or Senate President, if he wants. That has been far from happening since he came to power.

Prime Minister, Head of Government

Biya, political analysts say, has failed to have his name written in gold, as President who has appointed a woman to the office of Prime Minister, Head of Government!

Like with the case of the Senate and the National Assembly, the President has in over forty years ‘denied’ women the privilege of seeing one of theirs coordinating government action.

Secretary General at the Presidency

There is also the strategic position of Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic. Cameroon has never had a woman serve as Secretary General at the Presidency.

Women have waited for forty years plus under Biya’s leadership and still continue to wait. It is unclear when he will decide to break the jinx.

Director of Civil Cabinet at the Presidency

Paul Biya has also in over forty years, not entrusted the post of Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic to any woman. This is a position meant for someone who serves as the Head of State’s Private Secretary.

Key ministries

Like in other strategic positions, Paul Biya’s four decades and still counting leadership shows negative for women in many key ministries.

Despite awareness and multiple crusades for women empowerment for which, Paul Biya has even created a ministry for, some ministries still remain barren land for women to head.

Cameroon has since November 6, 1982, when Biya took over as Head  of State, never had a woman as; Minister of Finance, Minister of  Territorial Administration, Minister of Public Health, Minister of  Communication, Minister of  Defense, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Minister of  Higher Education, Minister of External Relations, Minister of Forestry and Wild Life, Minister of Environment, Nature Protection and  Sustainable Development; Minister of Youth Affairs and Civic  Education, Minister of Sports and Physical Education; Minister of  Mines, Industries and Technological Development, Minister of Tourism and Leisure, Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Decentralisation and Local Development.

No female Governor in forty years plus

Despite the thousands of Cameroonians trained at the National School of Administration and Magistracy, ENAM, none of the women groomed here has ever been appointed Governor. 

In the administrative set up under President Paul Biya, the highest women have reached is that of Senior Divisional Officer, SDO. Even on this rung, women are scarce like the tears of a cat. 

In the President’s leadership since November 6, 1982, no woman has ever served as Governor of a region.

No female army General

As Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces, Paul Biya, who has the preserve of promoting military personnel to higher ranks, has never named any woman as General in the military.

Women ‘barred’ from Treasury DG post

Among those who have been serving as the country’s exchequers, none has ever been a woman. It is a tradition as old as the post of Director General of the Treasury and Monetary Cooperation in the Ministry of Finance was introduced.

Many state corporations still a no-go zone for women

Further painting a picture of what seems to be a norm, Paul Biya in forty years, has not given women the privilege to manage certain state corporations. 

Most state corporations have been left in the hands of men under the New Deal. The situation has not changed and doesn’t show signs of changing anytime soon.

Some of the corporations that have never had a female General Manager, GM or Director General, DG, depending on the nomenclature are; the Cameroon Radio Television, CRTV; the Cameroon  Development Corporation, CDC; PAMOL Plantations; Cameroon Airlines Corporation, Camair-Co.; the National Refining Corporation, SONARA;  the National Hydrocarbons Cooperation, SNH; the  Hydrocarbons Prices Stabilisation Fund, CSPH, Port Authority of  Douala, PAD; Port Authority of Kribi, PAK; Cameroon Cotton Development Corporation, SODECOTON; Industrial Zones  Development Management Mission, MAGZI;  the Urban and Rural  Land Development Mission, MAETUR; Elections Cameroon, ELECAM.

Even the National School of Administration and Magistracy, ENAM has never had a female Director General, and the National School of Local Administration, NASLA.

Women missing in top jobs of national commissions

Whether it is by design or hindsight, women have not also been entrusted to head some of the strategic commissions that have been created to handle state issues.

This is the case with the National Anti-Corruption Commission, CONAC; the Cameroon Human Rights Commission; the National Communication Council, NCC; National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, NCPBM, and the National Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission, NDDR, among others.

Women ‘denied’ police, gendarmerie top jobs

Within the state’s security gear, women still continue to dream of a day when one of them will be called upon to serve as Delegate General for National Security and Secretary of State in charge of the National Gendarmerie at the Ministry of Defense.

Supreme Court, Constitutional Council in same nadir

The Supreme Court of Cameroon too has never had a female Chief Justice under President Biya. The same situation holds sway even when the Constitutional Council saw the light of day in 2023.

CPDM Central Committee SG Job

The CPDM where Paul Biya is the alpha and omega, also has traces of women yet to get the juiciest of positions.

Paul Biya has since the creation of the CPDM on March 24, 1985, in Bamenda, in the then North West Province, never appointed a woman  to the all-powerful position of Secretary General of the Central Committee of the CPDM.

Economic & Social Council

The Economic and Social Council which is an advisory body to the Head of State has never had female head.

Though most of its members have died with the institution believed to be near moribund, no woman has ever been offered the chance to serve as its leader.

Permanent Security Council scribe

Cameroon’s Permanent Security Council which touches on issues of security has never had the window of a woman serving as its Permanent Secretary. 

Despite the presence of women in the State’s security setup, they are yet to enjoy the privilege of working for the nation in this capacity.

As it was yesterday, so it is now, and forever?

While most of the positions raised had been so for decades, the trend still continues even for recently created positions.

Even with the suppression of the post of Government Delegate which Biya had the power of appointing but never chose any woman nationwide, the new dispensation is still the same.

The question many are asking now is whether, as it was yesterday; it is now and so will it be forever?.

An offshoot of actions to address the armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions saw the institution of Regional Councils in French-speaking regions and Regional Assemblies in the North West and South West Regions. 

Shockingly, no woman was vetted by President Paul Biya’s ruling CPDM party to serve as Regional Council President.  

The CPDM of President Paul Biya did not also give any woman the chance to vie for the post of City Mayor of any of the thirteen City Councils nationwide!

A catalogue of these positions, many say, shows Biya has out rightly written off women ever serving the State in certain capacities.

Amidst the seeming ‘darkness’, some persons have denied to quit; they are still hoping that with his Presidential pen, Biya can still decide to increase the share of the national cake given to women even in the  evening hours of his leadership.